Another Austin Run at Dawn

Ran once more this morning in downtown Austin. I forgot to start my GPS when I started running but it all came out to about 6 miles, or a little more. Once again it was quite humid, but running before the heat of the day paid off since it got up to over 100 degrees. Finally back home and looking forward to not going anywhere next week.

Early Austin Run

In Austin this week for work and it's hot. Like 100 degrees hot. Got up this morning at 5:30 and hit the trail downtown by 6 a.m. It was muggy but without the sunshine it was not horrible. I ran my 6 miles, missed a few turns and ended up on Barton Street. I turned around before it got crazy uphill. By the time I returned to the hotel my shirt was soaked but it was a good run.

Back to Texas

I woke up early this morning to run before the heat of the day, which is supposed to end up in the upper 90s. It didn't feel horrible when I started but I think it grew more humid as the run went on. I ran 7 miles, with walks every half-mile for the last two. Not my worst run, and not my best.

As I was coming back around the lake at Bonnie Wenk Park, I saw a guy in front of me walking. I passed him and then slowed to walk for a minute. He passed me, and then when I started up again I passed him. The trail took me to the right and he took the shortcut across the grass, where I passed him once more. The same thing happened with the next shortcut, and as I passed him for the fourth time I said, "Didn't I just pass your twin brother?" He laughed and said yes, and we exchanged a few more lines before he started running again. We ran together for about five minutes and I discovered he's been an inconsistent runner and is using an app to help him stay focused. He wants to run a half in the fall but doesn't have one picked out yet. He asked me some questions about my training and I tried to encourage him to keep it up. When we parted he asked my name and I found out his is Raj. That's one of the great parts about running that I don't experience that often - connecting, even briefly, with other people doing the same thing and working through some of the same experiences.

Quick Bay Run

This morning I ran a fast 6 miles. Or at least a fast second half. I ran at 5:30 a.m. local time, which wasn't too bad considering it was 7:30 a.m. home time zone. The first half of the run was mildly slow, but the second half I kicked it up quite a bit. Since I reset my GPS a few months ago this turned out to be my fastest mile (8:00 in the last mile) and fastest 5k (26:04). I owe it all to a lower temperature.

Bay Run

Thunderstorms rolled through Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was packed, and then on Sunday it was well over 100 with the heat index. All that added up to no weekend run. I actually was ready to go late Sunday afternoon before I looked at the weather app on my phone and saw feels like 111 degrees. Run cancelled.

This week I'm in the Bay area in CA, and what a difference. The temperature this morning was in the mid-50s and I went 6 really nice miles. I pumped up the pace later in the run and finished with some low 9's without feeling especially winded or wrung out. I should have brought enough gear to run every day I'm here, but twice will work.

Walking in the Heat

Once again I passed up an opportunity to run early since it was only going to be in the low 90s this afternoon. My strategy of walking early preemptively and every half mile in the second part of the run worked out great. I went 6 miles and survived. Even fifteen minutes after I got home sweat was still streaming down my face and body, but I felt okay. My plan is to run earlier on Saturday, hopefully with less humidity than last weekend. We'll  see.

Early in the Morning

I decided to get up early and run before the high heat of the day. I was out the door by 6:30 a.m. and my plan worked great. Even though it was humid the temperature difference of 20 degrees lower paid off. In fact, this sounds like a Mardi Gras/Bourbon Street reference, but this is the first time in weeks I've kept my shirt on the whole time. Not that I wasn't sweating at the end of 6 miles, but my shirt wasn't absolutely soaked and beginning to chafe certain parts I don't want to be chafed. I also went without iPod, and that was nice, too. A very good run. Not fast, but it didn't need to be.

Total Humidity

Yesterday morning's run was like the half I ran a few months ago. Except with sun. The humidity was off the charts, and the only way it could have been worse is if it was actually raining, and that would have been a relief. I knew early on it was going to be a tough one. I went out with the thought of running either 7 or 9 miles, and settled on 7 when it became apparent even that was going to be a stretch. The last three miles involved a lot of walking, but at least no calf cramps. This is the norm for July running in Texas. Even thought it was tough I still can't complain.

That Was Brutal

I'd hoped to run earlier in the day but my schedule didn't permit it, so I ended up going out about 4 p.m. when the the temperature was in the low 90s and the heat index way over 100 due to the humidity. We had thunderstorms roll through last night and today we paid for it with the heat index. As I told The Wife on my way out the door, if you waited to run in Texas until it was cool, you'd never run. I got in my 6 miles, with plenty of walking along the way, particularly in the last half where I thought it best to walk a little every half mile. The plan on Saturday is to run earlier. It might not mean lower humidity, but lower temperatures sure would help.

Independence Day Run

The thought of running four miles on the 4th of July didn't occur to me until well after I completed my 6 mile run at midday. We took the family to breakfast in downtown McKinney and then hung around for the parade. It was fun, a nice small-town feel to it in the downtown square, and breakfast was excellent as well. The sun was shining brightly by noon, which is about when I started my run. I walked a minute at every mile marker. Not sure I needed to do so, but it helped at the end when I ran all the way up the big hill on Lake Forest. Now to relax and do very little for the rest of the day in order to properly celebrate our nation's independence.

Great Eight

Thunderstorms rolled through overnight and into this morning, and I didn't think I'd be able to get in a run today. However, there was a break in the storm on the radar, and I decided to go for it. I wanted to run 8 miles, and fortunately that's exactly what I did. When I got to the end of the first mile with a pace around 10:30, I knew I was in for a good run. I kept the pace that slow because even though it wasn't overly warm, it was definitely humid. Saw more people out than I thought, particularly dog walkers. Got passed by a guy who wasn't running terribly fast, but I refrained from speeding up and decided that I didn't care if was passed or not. The Garmin tells me this is my longest run since resetting the thing, which means some of my runs like the half-marathon are history. At least they show up in my online tracking even though they're no longer on the device.